


Weak and Powerless (Over You)

by GreenFire66



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Comfort/Angst, First Kiss, Instinct, M/M, Mind Control, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Mind Manipulation, soft bois, technically self-harm?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-19
Updated: 2019-06-19
Packaged: 2020-05-14 19:33:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19279735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreenFire66/pseuds/GreenFire66
Summary: His vision spun up towards the center of the cavern, looking for a source when suddenly a voice penetrated his thoughts. His eyes darted against his will to the incubus, a hulking figure who seductively beckoned a finger towards Fjord.The world stilled. Every voice in his head, his orcish ancestry, Uka’toa’s commands, and now this one, they all beckoned for the same outcome. Power, survival. Growth and gain.And Caleb was all of those and more.(-)Or, the Incubus' use of Mind Control to turn Fjord has a stronger effect than they realized.





	Weak and Powerless (Over You)

**Author's Note:**

> Day 4; Prompt 4: Instincts
> 
> Here's a fun drinking game; take a shot (of water for all you minors) every time one of my fics uses the Well fight. I'll wait.
> 
> [Fic title based on "Weak and Powerless" by A Perfect Circle]

Fjord paced around the cavern and listened to his footsteps as they echoed off the rocky terrain and filled the otherwise silent atmosphere. He wished he had Caleb’s knack of time as he glanced in the mouth of the tunnel that Nott, and later Caleb, entered. How long had it been? Were they at a point where Fjord should start getting worried that they hadn’t heard anything? They hadn’t heard any fighting, so it wasn’t likely that anything happened, and yet-

“Coast is clear,” Caleb called from inside the cavern, and Fjord let out a quiet exhale as he felt his shoulders fall in relief. The group reformed as they impatiently advanced into the cavern.

As they rounded the corner, Cad’s ears perked up ever so slightly.

By the time Fjord turned his attention back to the entrance of the cavern, his skin was enveloped in flames, and the shouts of the Nein flooded his ears. His body moves away from the flames, and Fjord hisses as his hands rush to pat out the embers and ash covering his clothes.

His vision spun up towards the center of the cavern, looking for a source when suddenly a voice penetrated his thoughts. His eyes darted against his will to the incubus, a hulking figure who seductively beckoned a finger towards Fjord.

_Come on, join your friend._

The world stilled. Yes, of course. Every voice in his head, his orcish ancestry, Uka’toa’s commands, and now this one, they all beckoned for the same outcome. Power, survival. Growth and gain.

And Caleb was all of those and more. Caleb, who shot fire out of his hands and was learning to bend both time and reality at his will. What wouldn’t Fjord give to keep Caleb safe? To keep Caleb protected and at his side?

Fjord looked up in time to see Beau and Yasha charging Caleb, the wizard defenseless as he tried to wrestle his wrist free from Beau’s grasp. Beside him, Jester held the charm of the Traveler in her hand as she recited a prayer to the Traveler and cocooned Caleb in a sickly grey energy.

Why were they hurting him? Fjord's eyes flicked across the battlefield, watching as each of the Nein turned to Caleb as a threat, a target to be put down.

_No._

"Fuckin' get off him!" Fjord grit his teeth as he moved forward and flicked the Summer’s Dance blade into existence, eyes set on Caleb as he concentrated on the energy of the blade.

In the next moment, a wall of fire rose from the ground, and Fjord snarled at the heat wave that washed over him.

Fjord remembered this spell, remembered fleeing Avantika’s ship. Caleb’s body, out of his grasp one second and sliding to the ground with an arrow piercing his chest the next. Fjord had failed to protect Caleb then, almost lost him in that moment. No fuckin’ way was he letting that happen a second time.

The wall of fire was an issue though. It separated Fjord from Caleb, and he was powerless to protect him from this side of the wall. His eyes darted to the falchion in his hand and the figures of his companions closing in on Caleb.

Mind set on a decision he wasn’t sure even he knew, he chugged a health potion, letting the liquid flow through his body and felt it begin to patch the burn marks that littered his skin.

And then he waited.

Ahead of him, Yasha charged through the wall of flames, the fire searing her skin as she let out a battle cry. Her figure became a silhouette on the other side as it charged towards Caleb, restrained by Beau.

“No!” Fjord shouted as he watched the blunt end of Yasha’s weapon slam towards Caleb’s palm before bouncing off the magical field Caleb enveloped himself in. In a second, Yasha drew her weapon back and carved it downwards.

**_Protect him, runt._ **

The energy from the blade surged in Fjord’s hand, blinking him out of existence.

Fjord returned just in time to feel the impact of Yasha’s greatsword cleave into his side. A shout from behind him, Jester, his brain supplied, echoed off the cavern walls, but his attention was elsewhere.

Fjord blinked, mind suddenly clear, and he took hardly a moment to process where and who he was before his vision latched on to Caleb.

 **_Pact._ **Yes, Caleb. Caleb is comfort and security and everything Fjord thought himself unworthy of, and he would be damned to let him go without a fight. Fjord’s eyes widened as he stared at Caleb, seemingly entranced under the effect, yet holding Fjord’s gaze with his own. Caleb shakily raised a hand towards Fjord.

“Fjord- wha-” Yasha stammered behind him as she held the sword against Fjord’s side, confused, likely knowing that removing the blade would also cause the blood from the wound to pour open.

To his left, Fjord saw Beau rearing a fist back, and over his shoulder he heard Jester begin to recite a prayer for another spell.

“Sorry, Yasha!” Fjord called, sincerely, as he grabbed Caleb’s hand in his own and called on his magic.

Thunder enveloped the two, and when Fjord’s eyes opened, they were standing up in one of the wall alcoves of the cavern, the upper ground blocking the view of those underneath.

Caleb spun to face him, and Fjord quickly pinned Caleb’s arms to his side.

“Wait wait wait,” Fjord pleaded, his eyes looking into Caleb’s with as much intensity as he could muster. “Please, Caleb, it’s me. It’s just me. Come back to us.”

Fjord breathed heavily. Yasha’s strike brought Fjord’s mind out of its stupor, but his goal hadn’t really changed, only his methodology. “I’ve got you, you’re safe,” Fjord murmured into Caleb’s ear as he wrestled against Caleb’s thrashing arms. “Caleb, please, I know you don’t want to hurt us!”

Caleb’s eyes squeezed shut, and he shook his head vigorously.

“F-Fjord… get-” One of Caleb’s arms broke from Fjord’s grasp. “Get back! I-” Fjord’s breath hitched as Caleb’s hand gripped the dagger fasted to the holster at his side.

“Cay. Caleb, please.” Fjord dropped Caleb’s other arms as his hands slowly cusped the sides of Caleb’s head, his fingers taking purchase in the locks of Caleb’s hair. Tears stung his eyes. “Snap out of it, Ca-”

A pain dug into Fjord’s calf, and he hissed as he watched Caleb draw the dagger out with a choked sob. “Fjord, st-”

“No, no. Cay, I’m not lettin’ ya’ go.” Fjord’s visioned darkened for a second and his brain starkly reminded him of the blood pouring from his side. “They will kill you down there if you don’t wake the fuck up!”

One of Caleb’s hands grabbed his hair and pulled in frustration. Caleb’s eyes darted to Fjord’s leg as the hand holding the dagger drew upwards.

Fjord prepared himself.

In the next second, Caleb’s pained gasp filled Fjord’s ear, and Fjord opened eyes he hadn’t realized he shut.

Caleb was breathing heavily, and the dagger clattered to the rocks beneath them. Fjord’s eyes widened in horror at the slash mark across Caleb’s leg that he was now covering with one of his hands to stop the bleeding.

“Fjord…” Caleb gasped between breaths. “I- I’m sorry.”

Fjord shook his head, trying to quickly get his breathing under control. “Ya’ back with me, Caleb?” And Caleb nodded at that. Fjord took comfort in Caleb’s eyes, now very much staring back at him without the haze. “Now, why-"

Caleb melted in Fjord's grasp, his head pressed into Fjord's chest as choked sobs wracked Caleb's body. Fjord froze, his brain struggling to process. "I'm sorry," Caleb started, sniffing as he looked up at Fjord. "I don't deserve your forgiveness but I'm sorry. The fireball, the wall…"

"Now, hey, there's nothin' to-"

"You took a greatsword in my stead. Fjord, I just stabbed you."

"And then you got yourself, which is still confusing me, if I'm honest." Fjord's hand moved to cover his side, Caleb's comment a reminder of the blood that still flowed openly from his side. "Are ya' alright though?"

“I should be asking you that,” Caleb replied. “But yes." Caleb quickly rubbed the tears and soot out from under his eyes. "As for why I nicked myself, I knew there had to be some kind of physical pain to shake the subconscious out of the effect.” Fjord scratched the back of his neck. Explained why Yasha’s slash to his abdomen worked. Hurt like a bitch, but worked.

“But, thank you. Fjord,” Caleb continued as he looked up at Fjord. “I do not know why you threw yourself in between Yasha’s blade and I… but you did. And then also risked your life trying to talk me down in a state where that very much was not the wisest idea.”

“Yeah, well…” Fjord sighed. “I don’t regret what I did, quite honestly. But I can’t take… all of the praise.” Fjord huffed out a laugh. “I was under their control, too. But I… they used you to convert me to their side.”

“Used…” Caleb blinked, dumbfounded. “Me?” And Fjord nodded, because really what other way was there to describe what happened?

“Fjord…” And Fjord’s darkvision caught the ways in which Caleb’s cheeks flushed a shade or two, even in the grey-scale. “You are aware these creatures derive their power from…”

Silence lingered, and it was only during this silence that Fjord realized his other hand was still cradling Caleb’s cheek, his fingers soothing through Caleb’s hair.

“From…?”

“Nevermind.” Caleb shook his head. “It is of little importance. I’m sure the rest of the group need our assistance.”

Fjord took a moment to breathe in and out as he stood, surveying the battlefield before him. The entrance was to his right, and he saw Yasha battling more of the imps from earlier as they tried to pounce on her. To his left, he saw Jester clench a fist as magical energy surged out from her hands, encapsulating a rift from the back of the cavern and dispersing it into nothingness.

“Looks like that’s the case,” Fjord agreed, but his eyes turned back to Caleb. “We’re gonna have to get down there to do much, the stalactites here are blocking our vision, and it’s gonna be a bitch to move if we get flanked.”

“Agreed.”

Fjord reached out his arm towards Caleb, who looked back up at him with a quirked eyebrow. “Just… stick close to me, Cay, please?” Fjord let out a shuddering breath. “I need ya safe.”

A pause stretched between the two, and when Fjord was just about to retract his hand, apologize for not treating Caleb like the grown-ass and more-than-capable adult that he was, Caleb’s hand enclosed around Fjord’s.

Fjord’s breath hitched at the contact of their scar-touched palms. Caleb’s thumb traced the back of Fjord’s hand, rubbing a faint circular pattern that kept Fjord’s attention fixated on Caleb. Fjord was lost in Caleb’s eyes, who stared back at him with an equal intensity.

 **_Cherish him._ ** And Fjord knew he was barely half a meter away from a battlefield, knew that his was the last place for these feelings to overflow.

But he also knew how impossible that ancestral voice in the back of his head was to resist, and so carefully Fjord pulled Caleb into him, pressed a kiss to Caleb’s forehead, and turned back to the battle.

Fjord lightened up his grip as he walked to the ledge to descend back to the main floor of the cavern, but Caleb’s fingers only further entwined in his.

“I’ll need my hand back to cast,” Caleb whispered next to his ear. “However...”

And Fjord turned to look at Caleb once they finished scaling down the cavern side just in time to see Caleb lean forward.

In the next moment, Fjord felt Caleb’s lips on his, quick and chaste, before the red-head’s eyes caught something over Fjord’s shoulder.

“You got my back, right?” Caleb asked as he flicked his wrist, conjuring a bolt of flame and launching it towards the demon as it tried to slash its claws at Beau.

“Course,” Fjord replied instantly, summoning the falchion as his other hand coalesced an orb of eldritch energy. His eyes scanned the battlefield for any potential threats.

Later, they would talk about the powers that incubi and succubi held. They would talk about reckless battle tactics, along with emotions and confessions and insecurities that Fjord hadn’t planned to ever bring up. And they would make it work, just as they had, and just as they always will.

But for now? Caleb was safe. And that was what mattered.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Any and all Kudos, Comments, Bookmarks, etc are greatly appreciated!


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